No current plans for Kildare hotel to house IPAS applicants, council states

Kildare County Council has confirmed that it has not to date received a proposal to develop Celbridge Manor Hotel for the housing of IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services) applicants.

Confirmation from KCC follows a motion raised by Cllr Claire O'Rourke (SD) at Celbridge-Leixlip MD meeting on Friday May 16, which outlined concerns in the local community around plans for Celbridge Manor Hotel.

Cllr O'Rourke asked that the council outline any proposals it has received (if any) for possible developments at the site of the Manor House Hotel in Celbridge.

She said she would like to clarify one point for herself “as a relatively new councillor”, and that was if the pathway to check for any planning application would be via the website, to which she was informed this was the case.

Cllr Lumi Panaite Fahey (FG) said she also had a question in relation to the matter, as she had received a number of queries about possible developments at the “old Setanta Hotel.”

READ NEXT: Average listed monthly rent in Kildare is now over €2,000

What she understood, she said, was that there are no international protection applicants staying at the location at the moment, and that it was being used to house the homeless.

What Cllr O'Rourke was trying to “get at”, Cllr Panaite suggested, was if this would possibly change from homeless accommodation into “something else.”

Cllr Rupert Heather (Lab) said that there had been an issue of trees being felled at the site, and also people were concerned at what appeared to be an element of construction being carried out at the location.

Cllr Heather said it would be helpful if it could be established “what exactly is happening there.”

In its response, KCC stated that Celbridge Manor Hotel is currently used by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) for homeless accommodation.

The council confirmed that KCC “has not received a proposal from the International Protection Procurement Service (IPPS) to develop the site for the accommodation of International Protection Applicants or from the Ukraine Crisis Temporary Accommodation Team (UCTAT) to develop the site for the accommodation of Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection.”

A council official said she “can't speculate about what application might be received in the future”, but the position outlined by the council "is as it exists on the ground at that location at the moment.”

She said the local authority is not always consulted on plans, however, any planning application is a public process, and will always be advertised through KCC's system.

However, she noted, there are at times exemptions in planning, and that is when communities “become concerned.”

The situation as it stands is as outlined in the council report, and any information the council has is shared with councillors, she concluded.